Thank you for the beautiful video (at mySouTex.com) of Chase Field. I spent many hours hanging out of a helicopter gunner’s door with an aerial camera between my legs shooting base improvements and runway construction when I was stationed there as a photographer’s mate. I heard about the prison coming to Chase from my father, who saw an article in the L.A. Times on innovative ways of solving base closures.

I now live north of the old Ft. Ord Army base in Monterey, which also closed down due to military cutbacks. Beginning with much promise and two world-class golf courses, boosters imagined lots of new home construction and shopping. Unfortunately, the housing bust put all that on hold, but we still got Cal State University at Monterey. It’s becoming more beautiful every month as new construction replaces old barracks and offices.

Once again, well done documentary on a place that thousands of young men from all walks of life and from all over the country discovered in the small town of Beeville and were surprised to find it much friendlier and prettier than they had imagined before arriving.

But, yes, it was a compliment to your fine little town. I ran into an old Navy buddy this summer who was stationed at Chase with me and he said although it amounted to a very short period of time in our lives, our experiences defined so much of who we are now. I think that goes for a lot of people who spent time away from friends and family at a young age - discovering who they are on their own terms, not by fads or fashion.

But I did and do appreciate the folks in Beeville for the way they handled all of us and all our differences. Before the war, Chase Field had a skeleton crew and not much impact on the city in general. So the war was quite an upheaval for a small town, and its closing likewise.